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You would be pretty surprised what you can carry for under 18 lbs or so. (not counting food/water) Doing so comfortably is a different story. ($) There's a hu
by Implicated 11y ago
You would be pretty surprised what you can carry for under 18 lbs or so. (not counting food/water)
Doing so comfortably is a different story. ($)
There's a huge cottage industry of lightweight gear manufacturers [1] (I curate a list) that you won't find in the big retail stores. Lots of focus on smart feature engineering, lightweight hardware and materials, consistent feedback from customers driving their revisions. It's been pretty neat to watch.
1. https://lwhiker.com/brands https://lwhiker.com/brands
- dikaiosune 11y agoNice list! FYI the table isn't rendering very nicely on Android Chrome
- Implicated 11y agoThanks for the heads up! Fixed it up.
- nedwin 11y agoThe number of brands on that list is incredible. How big do you think the businesses behind them are?
- sliverstorm 11y agoI can't speak in dollars or volume, but I visited Katabatic Gear a few years ago. To my memory, the owner had a small office & warehouse in the industrial part of town - comparable to a small auto shop - and one assistant. Plenty of these operations literally run out of a garage though, and Katabatic Gear used to be one of those. I believe Cold Cold World packs are all still made by the owner. I have been immensely pleased with my "cottage gear".
- Implicated 11y agoIt's a pretty wide range, some of them are (obviously) big manufacturers. Others, like Enlightened Equipment, started in a garage. Some of them are still in the garage/living room. Those are the ones that I'm truly interested in helping promote, as they don't have the time/knowledge to do it themselves. Like Silverstorm, I've been incredibly pleased by the gear I've gotten from these smaller manufacturers. So much so that I built this website to help other people find them.